Some of these entries are likely high-traffic articles and it makes sense that they might be characterised by a lot of controversy. But why are so many schools listed in the top-10? My suspicion is that we’re seeing the effects of vandalism by a few students who might want to have voice in the digital representations of the institution that they spend most of their day confined in.

In other words, this map of Australia shows us that controversy in user-generated content can arise from not just about the usual/expected topics of politics and religion, but also more mundane issues like school vandalism.

I am the Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute, a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, and a Research Affiliate at the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment.